The other day in the newspaper, below an article about unemployment, there was another article headlined “NCSU chancellor gets ‘a great venue.’”

Now, someone thought very carefully about the choice of that word ‘venue.’

North Carolina State University has a problem. Because building a new $3.5 million house for its chancellor in the middle of a recession is, well, climbing out onto shaky ground – and the headline ‘Chancellor gets a new venue’ beats the headline ‘Chancellor Gets $3.5 Million Mansion’ hands down.

NCSU’s spokesman also carefully explained to the press how the Chancellor’s new venue is “a strategic asset to the university” which will “set the tone” for how visitors “think of NCSU” and after all, they added, “If you are entertaining in a run down building, they will leave with the impression that it’s a run down university.”

It sounded like NCSU’s been entertaining visitors in a barn and doesn’t own a single sky box at the basketball arena.